Iraq has huge investment potentials and opportunities specially in the domains of reconstruction of infrastructure and development of oil industries, but instability was a key challenge, a British academic said Monday.
"These investment opportunities contradict with the geopolitical factors which are about political instability," Dr. Toby Dodge, Kuwait Program Administrator at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said in a lecture about geopolitical threats in Iraq from a regional perspective. The lecture was organized by Kuwait Economic Society.
Dr. Dodge underlined the economic importance of Iraq at the regional and international level.
Iraq, he added, sits over the world's third largest oil reserve. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes Iraq can export up to eight million barrels of oil per day before the year 2035, said Dr. Dodge.
Iraq needs as many as USD 530 billion worth in energy investment in order to guarantee production sustainability, he said.
Dr. Dodge said rebuilding the infrastructure following 35 years of wars and civilian conflicts required huge regional and international investments.
Iraq has huge potentials, he noted, but the rule of the Baath party since the country's independence in 1968 triggered regional instability.
Furthermore, Dr. Dodge warned against the "extremely" dangerous situation in Iraq following the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant's (ISIL) capture of Mosul last June.
He called on the Iraqi government to provide domestic stability in order to improve the economy.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi is facing tremendous challenges like the rebuilding of army and establishing an inclusive political system that would help the state regain legitimacy, Dodge noted.
Dodge, an English political scientist, is an expert on the politics of Iraq and has published several books relating to this and international relations more generally. His expertise has led to a series of television appearances on news programs to discuss the invasion of Iraq.
He has also served as an occasional adviser to US general David Petraeus in Iraq.